The countdown is on to something interesting with the Smashing Pumpkins this week

If you go to the Smashing Pumpkins website, you’ll find a big countdown clock that expires at noon ET on Thursday.

If we’re going to connect all the dots from previous rumours, we can probably expect (a) a formal announcement of a reunion features Billy, James Iha, and Jimmy Chamberlin; (b) word of a tour starting sometime this summer or early fall: and (c) a new album produced by Rick Rubin to be released at a still-unknown date.

We might also hear about who is going to play bass this time out. Original four-stringer D’Arcy Wretzky is definitely not part of this reunion and we haven’t heard a peep from Melissa Auf Der Maur.

The latest guess is that Jeff Schroeder (a touring guitarist with previous versions of the Pumpkins and who is seen in leaked pictures of a photo shoot) will stay on guitar while Billy will move to bass. (UPDATE: This is looking even more like now that former Corgan solo band bass player Linda Strawberry won’t be part of the project. Neither will former touring bassist Katie Cole.)

The presence of the countdown clock is also bait to sign up for the Pumpkins mailing list. Might as well, right?